Prologue

[Music Recommendation: "Forever Rain" by BTS - RM - instrumental-only version by Smyang Piano]

BANG! BANG!

I shot the woman in front of me, who was already wounded all over her body, kneeling before me. But I didn't kill her. I merely scraped her legs so she couldn't escape. She still needed to pay for her thousand crimes and suffer its weight in prison. But before that…

"Tell me, who? Who's the Eight Leg?!" I shouted at her. "Speak now if you don't want to die a pathetic death!"

"Hah! As if I'd tell you!" she scoffed and spat out the blood from her mouth. "You can kill me all you want or torture me, but you won't get anything from me!"

"Ha-ha. You're making me laugh," I chuckled and looked at her pitifully.

Perhaps intimidated by my evil smirk and the dead cold look in my eyes saying I don't give a damn what she thinks, she flinched. No matter how professional she was, or how sure of herself and her decision, that slight jerk of the muscle on her arm and the tightening of her jaw, there's no mistaking it—she's threatened. After all, she's all alone now, wounded, and nowhere to escape—no more cards to play. But as for me, I still have a lot. I could still play this out to my advantage.

"Sacrificing your life to defend your comrade, how noble of you—for a criminal that is," I taunted her. "You do know that you're protecting a person who doesn't care about you, right? You're all criminals and selfish. The fact that you're here alone with no backup or anyone helping you only means he abandoned you, right?"

"…"

Ah, yes, the silence and her mouth that's faintly trembling. Little signs that I'm right even if she didn't admit it, especially now that she's on death's door.

"You know," I continued, "instead of dying here trying to protect your useless boss that abandons his people as soon as he doesn't need them anymore… I can make you an offer."

Her eyes lit up, though not very obvious.

"Yes, a very favorable offer. It's simple in these kinds of games, right? A life for a life. Just tell me the name of the Eight Leg, and I will spare your life. You will still pay for your crimes in prison, but you will be alive. You and your family. I can even put a good word on you that you cooperated to lessen your sentence. All of that just for a name. Make sure it's real, though, or else we'll find out, and I'll just go back to you and kill you with the rest of your family."

That look in her eyes… she's tempted by my offer. By the looks of it, she's just been waiting for me to say it since the beginning. Great. Just a little more push. And since she's already hesitating, this is the perfect time to pressure her more—give her no time to think further.

"Ten seconds—that's all the chance I'm giving you to give me your answer. Ten… nine… eight… seven…."

"W-wait! I—ugh."

"Six… Five… Four…"

"I'll say it! I'll say it! Don't count anymore—"

"Three…"

I pointed the gun toward her head.

"Two."

I pulled down the gun's hammer with my thumb and set my forefinger on the trigger.

"One—"

"It's ____________!"

Hearing that name, I didn't know what to feel.

My eyes shot wide open, and my lips started to tremble.

My ugly surrounding turned blank.

And a wave of rising anger filled my heart.

…

…

…

"Don't lie to me!" I shouted at her.

"I-I'm not lying! It's the truth! That's why you can never find him! It's because he's—"

"SHUT UP!"

Unable to accept it, I punched and kicked her, forcing her to tell me it was not true. But deep inside, I knew that she was telling the truth. It all made sense now.

Soon after, reinforcements from my team arrived, cuffing her and taking her to our base for further investigation. As for me, I… I just went out of the building, walking aimlessly.

I walked and walked towards nowhere. It took me a while to notice the rain that was pouring so hard. There were sirens from the police, medics, and all sorts of noises around me. Despite the noise, the screams in my heart were way louder.

I didn't know what to think. I didn't know what to feel or how I should feel except that… my heart… it kept crumbling and crumbling into dust. My body felt cold, and my mind a jumbled mess. Before I knew it, tears were already falling from my eyes, falling like the rain with no signs of stopping.

What kind of joke is this? It's not even funny. I know that heaven had never been for me except maybe now that it's raining. At the very least, it's hiding my tears away… as if helping me conceal my pain. But this… this pain…

A pain I can't even explain anymore—wretchedness beyond words.

It hurts… so much!

I've been waiting for this moment all my life but… why?

And as if the heavens were joking with me again, I found "him" standing before me. His face looked dark and gloomy though maybe not as worse as mine. I wanted to smile at him like I usually do, but… slowly, I…

I raised my gun towards him.

And he raised his gun towards me.

With my cracked, shaking, desperate voice, I asked him…

"Why?… Why does it have to be you?"